


Into the Arcverse

by PetildaFan



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Based on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), Canon - Anime Dub, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2019-10-07 23:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17375036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetildaFan/pseuds/PetildaFan
Summary: Yuan Amaya just wanted to hide away from public eye, but fate had other plans. A Spider-Verse-inspired crossover collab with Violetganache42 on Tumblr.





	1. My Name is Yuan

Celebrity Duelists: the biggest trend in the entire dueling community. Originating in Den City, these Duelists use flashy avatars in Link V.R.A.I.N.S. (short for Virtual Reality Artificial Intelligence Network System) to take part in special duels that are broadcasted for everyone to see. Like regular celebrities, they also take part in sponsorships and charity events, with some of them opening their own business lines, like The Gore’s comic series and Blue Angel’s Christmas album.

But not anyone can become Celebrity Duelists. In order to reach that status, Duelists need money and/or good connections. Obtaining that worldwide recognition was key, as not every Duelist can become a celebrity. You couldn’t just whip up a dueling video and wish for a sponsor to see it. You needed hard work to establish a name in the network system. But who knows? Maybe there’s someone out there just waiting to be recognized…

It seemed like any other morning in Den City. The sun rising over the horizon to shine its rays all over town and through the white, cumulus clouds scattered across the sky, the birds chirping their harmonic melodies wherever they go, the citizens getting ready for work, heading to school, or preparing for a fun event in Link V.R.A.I.N.S. Whatever it may be, there was always something for everyone to do, especially for a particular someone.

As the sun’s rays penetrated through a glass window of an apartment, a teenage boy was sitting on his chair, already busy with a personal project of his… Well, “project” is an overstatement. A pencil was held firmly in his right hand as he made swift movements with it over a sheet of paper. Vibrant strokes conjugated with one another, the gripped pencil danced in specific motions to create more light strokes on the paper. Sometimes, his fingers would flick his utensil around to use a slightly worn-down eraser to fix any minor mistakes. The more lines, curves, and shapes produced from the graphite, the closer the boy gets to completing an image he has in his head…and it always brings a warm, soft smile to his face.

His dark blue eyes usually stayed glued to the paper on his desk, but they would occasionally wander around his bedroom whenever he is seeking any inspiration or finding himself a little lost in the music he is listening to for some motivation. For this morning, a pair of earbuds rested on his ears—which were tucking strands of his spiky, black-dyed hair—as he hummed softly to a recently new song performed by BAND-MAID. So far, he has been getting a hang of the choruses and a bit of the bridges, but the rest of the lyrics were more challenging. Even so, he still enjoyed the catchy rhythm it carries and knew this song was a great addition to his playlist.

A sigh slid out from his mouth as he stared in the vicinity of his workspace, but the sound of the tone was far from disappointment. He took great enjoyment in this hobby, specifically the infinite possibilities of drawing. No matter what time of day it is, it was like heaven for him. A nice, relaxing haven where he could find the space he needs to create whatever is on his mind. A well-deserved break he always takes from the world to express himself. To Yuan Amaya, this was his happiness.

“The whole wide world,” Yuan quietly sung. “Will voice their true feelings.”

“Yuan!”

“How many times have you repainted your life’s story with ‘only glory’?”

“Yuan!”

“The whole wide world defy the deepest deep.”

“Yuan!”

“Enjoy all unexpected things over and ov-”

“Yuan!”

Realizing his parents were calling out to him, Yuan ripped out an earbud. “What is it?” he called back.

“Did you remember to pack for school?” Mr. Amaya asked.

But one glance at an empty suitcase said it all. “Crap…” Yuan sighed.

He quickly got up from his chair and started putting everything away. He put his pencil back into his silver-white pencil bag and slid his unfinished sketch into his folder of some of his other drawings, which lied on top of his sketchpad. He then packed his art materials into his suitcase before rushing to get dressed. Tossing his navy blue shirt with golden yellow lines near the end of each sleeve and light gray pants on his bed, Yuan grabbed his school uniform out of his closet and rushed to get changed into them. It consisted of a slate-colored jacket with a light blue trim, a white, button-up shirt, a blue tie, black pants, and a pair of grayish-blue and dark gray sneakers with white trims near the bottom.

Grabbing his suitcase, Yuan left his room. “Where’s my deck?” he asked his parents.

“Still in the living room,” Mrs. Amaya answered. “But wouldn’t it be easier to get the newer Duel Disk model?”

“I would rather not,” Yuan admitted as he walked to the living room. “Everyone’s going digital. I feel more comfortable using physical cards.” He picked up his Weather Painter deck and put it in his Duel Disk. “No matter what the others say…”

Mr. Amaya noticed his son’s nervous expression. “I get that you’re at the age of walking to school by yourself, but would it be alright if I drive you-”

“Thanks dad,” Yuan quickly replied. “I would appreciate it.”

His father was rather surprised at the quick response, but he still gave a warm smile to his son nonetheless. Without a second to waste, the family departed from their apartment room and made their way out of the building, where Yuan said his goodbyes for the day to his mother on the staircase before meeting up with his dad in his car. The current model they own is controlled by an A.I. much like the taxis of Den City; lately, there have been updates getting installed in their programing to help decrease the risk of the A.I.s malfunctioning and causing any accidents, a move that Yuan admittedly thought was smart.

Once the duo got into the front seats of automobile, Mr. Amaya activated the A.I. through voice command and instructed it to had it go to Den City High School. The vehicle then pulled out of its parking space and made its way onto the road to embark on its voyage. While driving through the suburbs, Yuan asked if there was anything interesting he could listen to on the radio, but before his dad could answer, the A.I. picked up his question and responded by tuning to a radio station that was currently doing brief news reports, with one of them being about recent activity going on in Link V.R.A.I.N.S. They have heard rumors starting to go around regarding this, and right as the car went by the downtown area, those rumors were proven true. From the windows and windshield, they could see a lot of the skyscrapers’ TV screens were plastered with live coverage on this developing story, including one from Good Morning Link V.R.A.I.N.S.

“Welcome to another installment of Link Facts,” a familiar talking frog announced. “I’m your host, J.W. Frog. As you’re all aware of, there’s been talk about this mysterious Celebrity Duelist known as 'Striker’ goin’ around. From what my rookie reporters gathered, he claims to be some new-fangled reporter who claims Sol Technologies is covering an incident that took place ten years ago. But can we really trust this guy? No one’s got a glimpse of him, not even the kind of deck he uses. So how can we believe him when he’s got no proof?”

A nearby phone rang. “And it looks like we have our first caller,” Frog noticed. He pressed a button on his desk. “Hello, you have reached Link Facts. How may I help you?”

“This is Ghost Gal of CyberTech Sector,” a young woman spoke up.

That surprised Frog. “M-My goodness, it’s an honor to have you on my show,” he replied. “What brings you here?”

“I noticed you’ve been saying things about Striker,” Ghost Gal answered. “What makes you think you know everything about him? You ever thought he could be doing us a favor?”

“I’m sorry, m'am, but without definitive proof, we can’t really tell what he’s like,” Frog explained.

"So your first thought is to say he’s not trustworthy?” Ghost Gal assumed. “What if something did happen ten years ago and the folks at Sol Technologies are the ones acting shady?”

“That is a possibility,” Frog admitted.

“Then I would appreciate it if you say that instead of making one-way accusations,” Ghost Gal suggested, then she hung up.

“Well that was a sure-fire way to start things off,” Frog remarked. “But that’s why I need you viewers. If anyone has proof of who Striker is, whether it’s pictures or videos, send them to me at jwfrog@linkfacts.com. Now in other news, The Gore has recently announced an upcoming charity duel…”

“J.W. Frog might be right,” Mr. Amaya pointed out. “We really don’t know much about Striker. He could be making up this 'Sol Technologies coverup’ for attention.”

“Maybe…” Yuan muttered, still thinking about that news report.

The traffic light changed from red to green, and while the car picked up some speed to continue driving, Yuan dove into some important aspects of what they witnessed. J.W. Frog brought up a valid point regarding these stories; unless it is for attention, it is always important to find definitive proof of the claim someone is trying to make. But maybe there could be another factor at play. What if Striker has been gathering proof and he’s just waiting for the right time to share it to the public? It could be a possibility.

Yuan knew he shouldn’t second guess himself like that yet he couldn’t help it because he just so happens to be a fan of Striker himself. He has heard about how this mysterious Duelist became a celebrity due to his nightly mission to expose Sol Technologies. Speaking of which, it was astonishing to have someone like Ghost Gal from CyberTech Sector call during a news report to give her input. She has also got a reputation herself for being a co-founder of this organization with well-renounced hacking abilities and shares a common goal with the other members: protecting Link V.R.A.I.N.S. from criminal hackers. As astounding as it is by itself, why would Ghost Gal suddenly chime in like that to have J.W. Frog say proof is needed? Is this so-called “Sol Technologies coverup” really that important?

“You’re a fan of Striker, aren’t you?” Mr. Amaya asked. “What do you think about this news about him?”

Yuan remained silent. “Not really in a talking mood?” Mr. Amaya guessed.

“Eh…” Yuan muttered with a shrug. “I’d rather keep an open mind. I’ve been following fansites for a while, but they all say the same thing. Everyone’s obsessed with figuring out Striker’s identity. Wouldn’t it be easier to leave him alone? And what’s going to happen when we finally figure out who he is? It sounds like he mostly became famous because of his unknown status.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to ask,” Mr. Amaya pointed out. “Your mother and I know you made an account, but did you even try to log in? It wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.”

“No thanks,” Yuan replied. “You know how hard it is for me to make friends-”

“Hey, Yuan!”

Outside the window, the two could see a teenager running towards their car. He had a chubby figure with dark green, shoulder-length hair that’s pushed back and left a small cowlick on the front, olive green eyes, and thick, hooked eyebrows of the same dark green color. For his attire, he wore the standard Den City High School male uniform except the jacket sleeves are rolled up to his upper arms and he wore scarlet sneakers with a light yellow coloring on the tongue of the sneakers and a thick, gray strap on each shoe. They both recognized him as Naoki Shima and Yuan was glad to see him; after all, they have been best friends ever since they were both children.

“Hey, uh…can you drop me off here?” Yuan asked his dad.

Mr. Amaya sighed. “Alright,” he answered. He spoke into the steering wheel. “Stop driving.”

At that moment, the car steered towards a crosswalk and stopped, allowing Yuan to get his suitcase. “Have a good day at school,” Mr. Amaya said. “Love you.”

“Thanks,” Yuan replied as he got out of the car. “And I know.”

He shut the door behind him and began to run up to Naoki. Just then, a honk briefly blared from the car horn, startling Yuan and stopping him in his tracks. He turned around to see his father rolling down the car window to say something to his son. “You have to say 'I love you’ back,” he explained.

“What?!” Yuan asked.

“I’m not leaving until you say it,” Mr. Amaya insisted.

Yuan groaned as he face-palmed. “Fine…” he said. “I love you, dad.”

Mr. Amaya chuckled slightly. “See?” he asked. “That wasn’t hard.”

As Mr. Amaya started the car up and it drove off, Naoki muffled a laugh. “What, doesn’t your grandmother embarrass you in public?” Yuan asked.

“Pfft… Nah,” Naoki answered. “Though I don’t get why the other students tease me when she drops off my boxed lunches.”

Yuan rolled his eyes as he sighed. He should’ve expected something like that from Naoki by now given how long they’ve known each other. For instance, one of the best memories they shared was back when they were children and they had gotten into Duel Monsters; unfortunately, uncertainty would always surface regarding what the actual rules were, so they decided to make up their own rules. They even recorded those rules into their own notebook copies and entitled them “The Official Dueling Guidebook”. Even after all these years, they still have their guidebooks in their bedrooms although they have been showing some signs of wear and tear. Even so, past and present moments with his best friend was another common occurrence that meant a whole lot for Yuan.

“So Yuan, have you thought about joining a club?” Naoki asked as the two walked to school.

“I have,” Yuan answered. “Do you think the art club is still accepting members?”

“Probably,” Naoki answered with a shrug. “But have you thought about joining the dueling club? I’m practically one of the club’s best Duelist.”

“Best Duelist, huh?” Yuan repeated. “What, did you bribe a bunch of newbies with the promise of free cookies?”

“Haha, very funny,” Naoki dully said.

“I’m serious,” Yuan clarified. “Den City High School mostly focuses on academics. We’re the only Duelists who attend.”

“Yeah, well turns out you’re wrong,” Naoki clarified. “I hung a flyer on the bulletin board and I got a bunch of people interested. Not sure if they played the game before, but it’s still something. So whaddya say? You interested in stopping by after school?”

Yuan smiled. “How can I say no to my best friend?” he asked in response. “But I hope you didn’t tell these supposed newbies Link monsters are invulnerable to everything.”

Later that afternoon, once classes were finished, Yuan met up with Naoki in the hallway where the latter’s last class was. He followed him out of the building and through the school grounds, weaving through a few groups of students as they were all heading to their clubs or extracurricular activities. In only about a minute or two, they reached the front doors of another facility on the campus, where Naoki explained the Duel Club is located on the first floor. He led Yuan through the doors until they were both in the main entrance. He then bolted through a hallway on his left, leaving his friend to run after him; to this day, he hasn’t been able to deduce how someone like him can run so fast, so he would assume it probably has to do with his eccentric, passionate personality.

Fortunately, he managed to catch up to Naoki, and after turning a couple corners, they both reached a doorway in an empty hall. Outside the door, there was a sign that says “Duel Club” on it, marking the intended destination of Yuan and the other newcomers’ first day there.

“So this is the place?” Yuan asked.

Naoki nodded in response. “And don’t worry, everyone’s nice. You’ll get along just fine.”

“Right…” Yuan muttered. He slowly reached for the doorknob. “So I have to…just go in, right?” He took a deep breath. “That’s all I have to do…”

“Geez, it’s not that hard!” Naoki exclaimed. “But if you’re too chicken, allow me to give you a push.”

With a single yet strong push, Yuan found himself opening the door and stumbling into the Duel Club. He tried to maintain his composure after his not-so graceful entrance, but he was too distracted by the sight of the other club members, which contained a healthy gender ratio. Among the females were a young teenage girl with a brunette, bobcut hairstyle and hazel eyes, a blonde-haired woman with magenta-red eyes and glasses, and a purple-eyed girl who had her wavy, ginger hair in a headband and left two, light orange side tails on the front. As for the males, there were a gray-haired boy who wore chartreuse glasses over his black eyes, a spectacled young man with his eyes shut, his teal hair kept in a single spike, and considerably chubbier than Naoki, a straight, brown-haired man with a lean figure, and a short, teenage boy with gray eyes and kept his dark burgundy hair in a ponytail.

Realizing everyone was staring at him, Yuan stumbled over his words. “H-Hi…” he stammered, averting his eyes towards the ground. “Does anyone like bowling…?”

The blonde woman snickered. “Wow Shima, where’d you get this noob?”

“I’ll have you know Yuan Amaya’s been my best bud for years!” Naoki defended.

“Yeah right,” the blonde woman scoffed with an eye-roll. She glared daggers at Yuan. “Did your so-called buddy pay you to be his friend?”

Yuan swallowed hard. “Uh… Well…”

“Quit mocking the newcomer,” the ginger-haired girl defended. She smiled at Yuan. “Sorry about June. She always acts like that with everyone.”

“Only because someone acted like a huge show-off and turned out to be a dueling fraud,” the blonde woman, apparently June, snapped. “Good thing I’m the vice president or our club would go nowhere thanks to our president’s cruddy leadership.”

She was referring to the gray-haired boy, who was somewhat annoyed by her insulting him like that, but it was the least of his concerns at this point. What matters right now was to introduce themselves to Yuan because a lot of the members were always keen on getting to know the newcomers. He introduced him as Hosoda and confirmed that he was indeed the president of the Duel Club. The young, teal-haired man was known as Sato and the ponytailed boy was known as Tanaka, who were both second-year students. The brown-haired boy chimed in to acquaint Yuan that he is a freshman named Suzuki. The ginger-haired girl identified herself as Hannah while the brunette woman politely addressed herself as Skye. Though Yuan had an idea on who June is, the latter reluctantly gave her introductions.

“I’m June Mori,” the blonde woman sighed. “And like I said before, I’m the club’s vice president.” She held out her hand. “Now fork over your deck for inspection.”

“W-What…?” Yuan stammered.

“Don’t mind June,” Naoki explained. “She does this to all new club members.”

“Only to see if you’re worthy of being in the club,” June coldly added. “Now hand it over.”

“Uh…o-okay…” Yuan muttered, slowly taking out his Weather Painter deck.

Taking his deck from his hand, June expanded it out to examine the cards he has. So far, everything seemed pretty normal, much to her disappointment; it’s not because his deck was useless. It was far from it. She could tell the Weather Painter archetype all contained some beneficial effects of every card type. After all, a core belief that Hosoda made an official rule for the club was how there is no such thing as a useless card, only useless Duelists who don’t see their worth. As she was wrapping up her deck inspection, she spotted a card coated in a hexagonal pattern of dark and light blues. Her mouth barely moved, but it left an opening between her jaws big enough for it to be noticeable, prompting a nearly audible gasp to escape. On top of that, her eyebrows slightly rose at what she manage to catch a glance of.

Was it a dream? No, it couldn’t be. The image, the stats, the direction of where the arrows were pointing, the monster’s name. She recognized it all. Had she finally found it? The card she has been looking for?

“What’s wrong, June?” Hosoda asked. “Did you see something?”

June responded by shoving the deck back into Yuan’s hand. “Everyone, start rearranging the tables,” she ordered. “We’re dueling right here, right now.”

“Now hold on!” Naoki defended. “You can’t ask Yuan to duel!”

“But I just did,” June bluntly pointed out. “His deck intrigues me. I want to see it in action.”

Yuan wasn’t sure how to respond. “Uh…”

Seeing his friend in distress, Naoki leaned close to him. “You okay, buddy?” he asked.

“H-How did you drag me into this…” Yuan muttered. “You know neither one of us can actually duel…”

“Relax, you got this,” Naoki encouraged. “June uses a cheap starter deck. Your Weather Painters can easily defeat her.”

“You sure you’re not saying this to cheer me up?” Yuan guessed.

“Of course not,” Naoki answered. He gave Yuan a pat on the back. “Now go on, you’ve got this.”

Taking a deep breath, Yuan stepped forward. “I-I-I…” he stammered.

“Yes?” June asked.

“I accept your challenge!” Yuan nervously blurted out.

June smirked. “Glad to see you’re not chicken,” she said, strapping on her Duel Disk. “So listen up: if you can defeat me, I’ll let you join. No second chances. Got it, noob?”

“Y-Yes!” Yuan exclaimed.

“Good,” June said. “I’d wish you luck, but I doubt you’ll need it.”


	2. Weather Painting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuan shows off his dueling skills to the club's vice president, unaware of her true intentions...

With the table’s all pushed back towards the club room’s walls, everything was set up for Yuan and June’s duel. Much like how the school’s sports teams have fields and a gymnasium for practicing, the members are generally allowed to use the auditorium to hold any duels to prepare for any tournaments, test the newcomer’s skills before officially joining, or—if push comes to shove—settle any serious tiffs. If there was something important is taking place and the auditorium was needed, then most of those duels are conducted in the club room. Even though nothing remotely eventful was coming up, the duel was still occurring in the club room because June didn’t want to waste any time seeing the Weather Painters in action; she also has no intentions on holding back against Yuan.

Yuan inserted his deck into his Duel Disk, scanning all the cards he had with him and activating a holographic projection of its blade to materialize. As for June, she had the newer model, so there was no need for an actual deck. The cards she uses are all downloaded into her Duel Disk, meaning everything will be projected thanks to the advanced technology provided by Sol Technologies. If there was one thing both versions have in common, people can duel each other in and out of Link V.R.A.I.N.S. thanks to its dual virtual reality network compatibility. Having both of their decks ready, the digital text on their Duel Disks read, “CARD DIGITIZE COMPLETE,” followed by “LOCAL VR NETWORK DUEL STANDBY.”

“Just wanna let you know I won’t hold back,” June informed. “I’ll use my deck at it’s full strength, so I’m expecting you to come at me at full strength. You got that?”

“O-Of course…” Yuan stammered.

June groaned. “Quit acting like a coward,” she demanded.

Yuan’s face went pale. “I… Uh…”

“Don’t mind Yuan,” Naoki spoke up. “He doesn’t really have a lot of social skills, but his dueling skills are just as flash as mine.”

“I don’t need commentary from the peanut gallery,” June bluntly stated. “Now let’s begin the duel!”

“R-Right…” Yuan agreed. And with his and June’s Life Points at 4000 each, the duel began.“

"I’ll start things off if you don’t mind,” June said. “First I summon Immortal Ruler.”

That surprised Yuan. “Immortal Ruler…?” he echoed.

“What? Were you expecting some cutesy fairy deck?” June coldly asked. “Not every girl duels that way. I happen to like dueling with zombies. Now to activate the Field Spell Zombie World!”

From the ground, a blackish-blue light flashed right in the middle of the Duel Field and expanded outward, leaving behind what looked like human skulls and bones in its path. Whatever image was on that Field Spell kept spreading all over the room; this ominous light flooded the entire floor before reaching the edges and proceeded to climb up the walls. Before long, it made its to the ceiling until the entire club was enveloped in a new, horrific scenery. Strange creatures were crawling all over the piled skeletons, a few bare, demonic trees had popped up in a few areas near both Duelists, a bloody river flowed by the skeletal land, and tall, rocky formations erupted into place over the dark, cloudy horizon.

This Zombie World might as well be the scariest sight Yuan had seen so far. He examined the area with swift and somewhat frantic motions because he honestly believe the phrase “a fate worse than Hell” was a perfect way to describe this setting. For June, it was also perfect, but for her overall deck and her Immortal Ruler, who is a Level 4, EARTH, Zombie-Type monster with 1800 ATK and 200 DEF. Although it can’t be special summoned, it can be tributed to add Zombie World from her Graveyard to her hand.

“But I’m not done,” June continued. “I activate the Continuous Spell Call of the Mummy! Now whenever my field is empty, I can special summon a zombie straight from my hand. And since I can’t attack, I’ll finish things up with a face-down card. Now show me what you got.”

“Okay…” Yuan muttered. “I draw.” After drawing a card, he checked his hand. “I activate Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen to special summon Weather Painter Rain from my hand. This allows me to activate the Continuous Trap Weather Auroral Canvas from my hand. Then I normal summon Weather Painter…” He double-checked the cards in his hand. “…Cloud.”

The Weather Painter Cloud is a Level 3 WIND Fairy-Type monster with 1500 ATK and 1000 DEF. If a different The Weather card Yuan controls is sent to the Graveyard, he can target up to 2 The Weather Spells and/or Traps from his Graveyard and place them face-up in his Spell and Trap Zone, but this can be done once per turn. Another effect that be done once per turn is Special Summoning Cloud during the Standby Phase of the turn he was banished to activate a The Weather card effect.

As for The Weather Auroral Canvas, all The Weather effect monsters in the Main Monster Zone of the Continuous Trap’s column and its adjacent columns gain this effect: If a player adds exactly one card to their hand (expect during the damage step), this card and the added card are both banished, allowing that player to draw one card. Additionally, only one The Weather Auroral Canvas can be controlled.

“I also activate Weather Rainy Canvas,” Yuan continued. “By banishing Weather Painter Rain from my field, your Field Spell goes back to your hand.”

The Weather Painter Rain twirled around with her large, indigo pen in her hands. Firmly grasping onto the pen, the tip drew a rotating spiral ascending from her shoes all the way up to the top of her head. The encircling indigo ink cloaked Rain in a luminescent glow before fusing together to produce a paint puddle of the same color. It splashed down onto the ground in the same Main Monster Zone where Rain was summoned from and oozed into the dried-up soil through the skeletons. Pretty soon, a glowing patch lit up from where the puddle dripped onto, with it extending all over the land and stretching out into the rocky regions and the sky, bringing everyone back into the club room.

“Whoa, is this what Weather Painters are like?”

“That was so pretty!”

Yuan was surprised by the compliments. “But…this is still my first turn…”

“Then keep going!” Hannah encouraged. “I want to see more of those Weather Painters in action!”

She was right to tell Yuan to keep going; there was the desired option to head to the Battle Phase so that his monsters can attack. On top of that, this was everyone’s first time seeing the Weather Painters in a duel and they already had a positive response to witnessing this archetype. With such a strong reception from the start, Yuan might have a chance. He could feel a peculiar emotion budding from within him. He wasn’t sure what it was at first, but he managed to catch on to what this sudden surge was. He exhaled before opening his eyes, which were filled with the spark of confidence, and staring back at June. But upon quickly realizing his current monster was weaker, he changed his strategy.

“I activate Magic Planter!” Yuan announced. “By sending Weather Auroral Canvas to my Graveyard, I get two free draws.” He checked the two cards he drew and smiled wide. “And with the Spell card Ancient Rules, I’m allowed to bring out a high-level monster. Time to shine a light, Weather Painter Aurora!”

Weather Painter Aurora is a Level 6 DARK Fairy-Type monster with 2200 ATK and 2000 DEF. A Spell or Trap with The Weather in its name can be placed face-up from Yuan’s hand, deck, or the Graveyard after she has been successfully normal summoned. The opponent can neither target nor destroy The Weather Spells and Traps he controls with card effects. Much like Cloud, she shares the same “once per turn” where she can be special summoned during the Standby Phase of the turn she was banished from the field to activate The Weather card’s effect.

Because Immortal Ruler has only 1800 ATK, Yuan figured bringing her out would sustain some amount of damage to her, even if it wasn’t much.

“Time to begin combat!” Yuan declared. “Weather Painter Aurora, take out Immortal Ruler with Emerald Paint Splash!”

Aurora raised her paint brush roller towards the sky to charge up her attack. On the handle, two small, emerald green orbs and a larger orb of the same hue located in between them shone vividly, powering up the roller as it steadily soaked itself in a bright, fluorescent green color. She lunged forth to where Immortal Ruler was and commenced with coating it in paint. The combination of the soaking green paint and the rapid movements from her as she utilized her brush was proving too much for him to handle, and before he knew it, she delivered one final blow by thrusting the roller onto his chest and forcefully sent it upwards, dealing a move in a similar manner to an uppercut. As the paint splashed from underneath his chin, Immortal Ruler disintegrated from the field, bringing June’s Life Points down to 3600.

“But I’m not done!” Yuan continued. “Now Weather Painter Cloud can-”

“I don’t think so,” June interrupted. “I activate the Trap Haunted Shrine! Now Immortal Ruler is allowed to crawl back onto my field!”

A holographic hexagon digitized itself onto the field and projected pixels compressed themselves together until they were in the shape of Immortal Ruler, who shortly disclosed himself after the special summoned. Aside from a Zombie-Type monster getting special summoned from the Graveyard if June controls no monsters, Haunted Shrine can also—once per turn—be banished from the Graveyard to target and special summon a Zombie-Type monster from the Graveyard with its effects negated.

“So I guess that ends your turn,” June assumed.

“Yeah…I guess…” Yuan realized as he set two cards face down.

“How pathetic,” June scoffed as she drew a card. “And you haven’t even Link Summoned yet. This is going to be a quick duel if this keeps up. Now to bring back Zombie World with help from Immortal Ruler! Offer me your life to restore my wasteland paradise!”

A portal opened up from below Immortal Ruler, and starting from the bottom, he gingerly dissipated until every trace of him was sent to the Graveyard. As a result of him getting tributed, a narrow beam of light shot upwards with a silhouette of a card rising up from outside of the Graveyard portal. That card quickly vanished before reappearing in June’s hand, and with a simple swipe, she promptly activated it. Pretty soon, Yuan found himself reliving the same experience he went through when it was first played. An expanding surge of holograms swallowed the club room once more until everyone was back in the demonic, skeletal hell known as Zombie World.

“And just to make sure Zombie World stays put, I’ll bring out an old friend,” June continued. “Come on out, Necroworld Banshee! Root yourself to my paradise!”

A handful of what appeared to be souls emerged onto the field in one big clutter, which was then scattered into multiple individual souls floating around what appeared to be a pale-ish blue girl with pointy ears, long, silky hair of a similar color, and wore a powder blue blanket that had been tied on her shoulders to make it resemble a dress. Although her appearance does not make her look like a banshee like her name states, she is a Level 4, DARK, Zombie-Type monster with 1800 ATK and 200 DEF. Her main effect prevents other card effects from targeting and destroying Zombie World, something June intended on doing. By activating her quick effect, which can be done once per turn, she can be banished from the field or Graveyard in order for Zombie World to be directly activated from June’s hand or deck.

“And just to spice things up, I’ll use the Quick-Play Spell Zombie Power Struggle to give my banshee a power boost,” June decided.

Zombie Power Struggle is a rather interesting card to play because instead of just targeting and increasing a Zombie-Type monster’s ATK, it can either add or subtract 1000 ATK until the end of the turn. If this Quick-Play Spell is in the Graveyard, during the Main Phase, a banished Zombie-Type monster can be shuffled into the deck in order to set it onto the field, but it must be banished when it leaves the field. As usual, this effect of Zombie Power Struggle can be done once per turn.

Having made the decision to raise Necroworld Banshee’s ATK to 2800, she has enough strength to destroy Weather Painter Aurora. Even though 600 damage isn’t much, it is still better than the 400 damage Yuan dealt earlier.

“Now to get rid of that Weather Painter!” June declared. “Necroworld Banshee, wipe her out with Decaying Shri-”

“I don’t think so,” Yuan interrupted.

“What are you saying?” June asked.

“Because Weather Rainy Canvas has an additional ability,” Yuan explained. “By banishing it from my field, I’ll negate the effects of Zombie Power Struggle and return it to your hand.”

Necroworld Banshee had already declared her attack as she had stood up on her feet and covered her eyes as she unleashed a loud wail, almost as if she was mourning for the dead. The souls orbiting around her responded to her cries and charged to where Aurora was; however, at that moment, the young banshee could feel her ATK return to its original 1800, a direct result of June returning Zombie Power Struggle to her hand. To put it simply, there was nothing she could do to stop her attack.

Aurora readied her paint brush roller, and with the lustrous, emerald green orbs all charged up again, she deflected each and every soul back to the opposing monster, splattering them with a bit of chartreuse paint. With every soul struck back to Necroworld Banshee, leaving behind paint stains on her, it led to a point where it was too agonizing for her to handle and she let a pained scream upon getting destroyed, much to June’s frustration as her Life Points lowered to 3200. For a noob, this Yuan kid was definitely craftier than she initially expected.

“Then it’s a good thing I still have Call of the Mummy,” June pointed out. “I’ll bring out Pyramid Turtle to provide some stable defense. Now show me what your deck can do!”

“Alright,” Yuan responded. He drew a card. “First, Weather Painter Rain returns to my field since she was banished due to a card ability. Now here’s when the fun begins. Link arrows authorized!”

“What?” June asked.

“I need at least three Weather Painters to bring out this masterpiece!” Yuan continued. “Link the circuit! I Link Summon Weather Painter Rainbow!”

His three Weather Painters transformed into violet, indigo, and green spirals of energy that whisked to where the Link portal was, but instead of heading inside of it, they went for the bottom three Link Arrows. The three set arrows triggered a reaction that caused an elegant, blonde-haired lady wielding a paint brush and a palette of assorted colors, complete with seven tubes of paint floating in front of her—violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red—to be summoned. Undoubtingly, this monster was The Weather Painter Rainbow, a Link 3, LIGHT, Fairy-Type Link monster with 2200 ATK and the Link Arrows set on the bottom-let, bottom, and bottom-right. For her Link Materials, she requires three The Weather monsters. Her quick effect allows Yuan to send her to the Graveyard in order to negate an opposing monster’s special summon and destroy it. Unsurprisingly, she can also get special summoned on the Standby Phase of the turn she was banished to activate a The Weather card’s effect once per turn. Finally, The Weather effect monsters that linked to any of her three Link Arrows gain the quick effect to banish Rainbow as a way to negate a card or effect’s activation and destroy said card.

Unfortunately not everyone was amazed to see the Link monster. “What is that?” June asked.

“My Link monster, Weather Painter Rainbow,” Yuan repeated.

“I can see that!” June shouted. “Why did you bring _her_ out?! What about your other Link card?!”

“Other Link card?” Yuan echoed. “What are you…”

All of a sudden, he paused halfway through his question right as he processed what June was talking about. Before the duel began, she had examined his cards and handed them back because she wanted to see them in action; that’s what he’s been doing, but that wasn’t enough to please her? Up until recently, he thought that was what intrigued her and he has been showing off what he can do with his Weather Painters. He memorized that same flashback and recalled her stopping to see something in his deck. Just like that, it clicked for him. That was why she longed to see his monsters in action? Just to see his other Link monster? But…why?

“You want to see…him?” Yuan asked, losing his confident streak. “But he doesn’t fit with the deck…”

“So what?” June impatiently asked as she tapped her foot. “He looks powerful. Now bring him out already!”

Yuan flinched. “I, ah…”

Luckily Naoki ran in between the two. “Hey, don’t yell at Yuan like that!” he defended with his arms stretched out. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you have no right to bully him!”

“I’m not bullying him!” June insisted. “I’m ashamed he’s holding back! If he can’t summon his true ace, he has no right to call himself a Duelist! So unless he summons it this turn, I’ll have no choice but to call off this duel!”

“I have to agree with Shima on this one,” Hosoda spoke up. “What’s gotten into you, June? You weren’t like this with the other members.”

“So what?!” June snapped. “I can tell he’s different from the rest of you!” She glared at Yuan. “Now bring out your ace already!”

Her cold, harsh stare did not settle well for Yuan; the eye color my be a magenta-red, but they may as well be an icy blue based on her heated temper. Tanaka stepped in to remind her how Yuan gets to call the moves whenever it’s his turn with Suzuki adding how it was practically normal for Duelists to summon their Link 3 aces first and then their Link 4 trump cards when the intensity gets amped up. Heck, even the soft-spoken Hannah was showing signs of having enough of June’s constant berating and had to call her out on it. To no avail, most of the club’s combined efforts did not phase her one bit; she was going to see Yuan’s true ace monster whether they like it or not.

Skye did what she could to maintain her composure although judging from her shut eyes and slightly twitching eyebrow, she was getting annoyed by June’s behavior too. Right as she got up to attempt to resolve this, her hazel eyes caught Yuan in the corner of her sight except…something wasn’t right with him. Was he…shaking? Possibly, but she could tell he obviously wasn’t getting any better at this rate and it seems like June yelling at him to play his other Link monster wasn’t helping in the slightest. From his perspective, he began to second guess himself on the move he just made. Was bringing out Weather Painter Rainbow the right call to make? Should he have brought out his other Link monster? Should he have Link Summoned him to begin with? With the mounting pressure and the heightening anxiety he is forced to endure, the implication that something needed to be done immediately was getting more and more apparent. So she did.

“Call off this duel,” Skye demanded.

“Excuse me?” June asked.

“You’re making Yuan uncomfortable,” Skye pointed out, a fierce gaze appearing in her eyes. “And why do you act like you’re the club president? You joined a few days ago and assumed the position of vice president. if anything, I should be vice president because I was able to get the new Duel Disks for everyone else. Now are you going to call off the duel, or do I have to report you to the headmaster for bullying?”

There was no arguments made on any of these points. Skye upgraded almost everyone’s Duel Disk because she is the step-sister of Akira Zaizen, who is the security manager of Sol Technologies, so it explains where she gathered the money from to provide the members with the newer models. Not to mention she is especially right about Yuan getting bullied, regardless if June continues to deny it. As long as anyone seeks to harm, intimidate, coerce, or make someone else uncomfortable, that is considered bullying and it is strictly against school rules.

June was left at an ultimatum; was getting to see Yuan’s true ace monster in action if it meant getting sent to the headmaster’s office? From what she could tell, every member did not approve of the way she acted upon seeing Weather Painter Rainbow. Just because he didn’t Link Summon his Link 4 monster right away doesn’t mean it is a big deal. Speaking of him, she observed his current state once all the yelling and bickering has subsided. She perceived right away that he had fallen on his knees and hugged himself as his body shook; it wasn’t shaking as much now that the disputing subsided, but there were still some visible vibrations. She peered back at Skye, who continued giving her the same fiercely serious glare. After about a minute of thinking, she had made her decision, and judging from the way she sighed, she ultimately the right choice.

“Fine,” June said as she deactivated her Duel Disk, causing all the holograms to vanish. “But I don’t think he’s worthy to join.”

“I disagree,” Hannah spoke up. “Those Weather Painters were beautiful and he clearly knew what he was doing.”

“So would you care to explain your actions?” Hosoda asked June.

“Because I can tell Yuan Amaya has potential to be as strong as me,” June explained, still annoyed with the duel results. “Don’t all great Duelists figure a way out of a tough spot, like when they’re pushed into a corner with no way out? All it takes is the right card to pull off a miracle win, just like that one card I saw: a Link monster called Shining Claw Link Dragon.”

“That old thing?” Naoki asked. “It’s just a card Yuan keeps in his deck for some sentimental reason.”

“Oh, really?” June asked. She glanced at Yuan, who had finally got back on his feet and was starting to calm down. “And what is this ‘sentimental reason’?”

Yuan tried to come up with a definitive answer, but had trouble determining what this sentimental reason is. Not even his earliest memories provided any recollection of how he got Shining Claw. All he knows he has had it for his entire life while growing up yet he rarely used it, especially with his Weather Painters. Aside from his dragon not fitting with his deck, he just wasn’t sure why he was given that card in the first place. It has been an occasionally recurring thought of his, but it doesn’t entirely bother him; however, now that June mentioned it, Yuan pondered if Shining Claw has the potential of helping him pull off a “miracle win” like she said. Despite him feeling like he wasn’t that much of a great Duelist, he left quite an impression on everyone prior to the duel’s abrupt end. Maybe if he kept practicing, he could pull it off? Who knows.

“Well, I’ve seen enough,” Hosoda decided. “Welcome to the dueling club, Yuan Amaya.”

“You’ll still let me join?” Yuan asked. “But what about-”

“I believe there’s no such thing as a worthless card,” Hosoda explained. “What does exist, however, are useless Duelists who don’t see their worth. But you don’t look like a useless Duelist to me. Your skills are beyond incredible. You take art classes, correct?”

Yuan quickly nodded. “No wonder,” Hannah spoke up. “I think I saw some of your sketches in the school art gallery. You’re pretty gifted.”

“Wow…” Yuan said, still surprised by the praise. “Thanks.”

And that was how Yuan joined the dueling club. Despite his mild panic attack, it looked like most of the club members were impressed with his skills. But as the club members celebrated, Hannah stepped aside to type something into her Duel Disk. She felt a strange connection with this new member, but why? Why did she feel like this Weather Painter user was an important person? Regardless of why, she knew exactly what she had to do after school…


	3. An Assembly of Celebrities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Striker gathers a list of Celebrity Duelists for an important meeting.

Hello, Vagabond. I heard about your legendary coding skills. I wish to meet up with you tonight to discuss them and how they can benefit my personal goals.  
-Striker

Inside what appears to be a truck, a young man was busy typing on a computer when he received the message. The computer had a total of six screens; one had an open window containing several files, a few were all connected to varying databases, and the rest had an assortment of files scattered all over the desktop screens, with one having the message from Striker opened up. As he finished reading this short yet urgent letter, he couldn’t believe who signed it. He had heard rumors and reports about how famous this Celebrity Duelist has become, but why him specifically? He placed his fair-skinned left hand over his chin—which had a dark violet goatee—to think. There was no doubt that Striker’s personal goals involved Sol Technologies’ supposed coverup based on those rumors and J.W. Frog’s morning news report. Speaking of which, Ghost Gal made a call to discuss this latest activity going on in Link V.R.A.I.N.S., so why couldn’t he converse with her and get himself some allies from CyberTech Sector? Regardless, this meeting was too good of an opportunity to pass up and he had to meet him as fast as possible.

But before he could respond, his phone unexpectedly rang. After a bit of alarm from the sudden noise, he answered it. “Hey, you’ve reached Café Nom,” he said. “This is Cal Kolter, the one and only chef and founder. What would you like to order?”

“Have you received my message?” a heavily-filtered voice asked.

Cal paused, realizing who called. “So you’re Striker,” he assumed.

“Correct,” the voice confirmed. “Greetings, Mr. Vagabond. It is nice to finally contact you. Now then, about my personal goals…”

“I know what you’ve been doing,” Cal said. “Every night you’re uncovering some cover-up information about Sol Technologies. It was even talked about on the news this morning.”

“Do not listen to that amphibian,” Striker dismissed, referring to J.W. Frog. “His information about me is false. What I am doing is for the good of all who use Link V.R.A.I.N.S., especially a few specific individuals.”

“So why drag me into it?” Cal wondered. “You’re already a skilled hacker. Why would you need a coder?”

“I was able to uncover the names of five individuals who were scarred because of something that occurred ten years ago,” Striker explained. “So tell me, Mr. Vagabond… Does the name Jin Kolter ring a bell?”

A small gasp slipped out from Cal’s mouth and he felt a short yet sharp thumping noise from his chest, indicating his heart has skipped a beat. How did he discover that Jin was indeed one of the victims? He has heard of how much of a skilled hacker Striker is, but he didn’t expect his skills to be _that_ impressive. Sneaking through potentially classified information from Sol Technologies in the middle of the night and finding proof of this alleged cover-up being true through five specific names with one of them being Cal’s own brother? It’s surprisingly miraculous Striker is not wanted by them or anything given his reputation.

More importantly, how did he deduce the two were related? You would think a jump to a conclusion like that would be rather creepy, and while that may be true, Cal was more speechless than creeped out. His gray eyes shifted to a computer screen containing the open window and he briefly scrolled through the files to open one of them up. For a short while, he simply stared at a photo from a decade ago, obviously not long before this incident occurred. It was a simpler time back then; he recalled how happier Jin was before the incident. There was life in his eyes and he would smile as much as Cal. Six months later, that smile and lively personality was gone. Cal had gave up on his sports career and spent the next ten years honing his hacking skills and it all led up to this: assisting a rising Celebrity Duelist in solving this mystery once and for all.

“Is that why you want my help?” Cal asked, now knowing how serious this is.

“It is more than that,” Striker answered. “I know you are more than just a coder. You run a dueling archetype known as Codebreakers, a group of cards that can weaken the opponent’s monsters through slight placement and subtle trickery. While you are not like typical Celebrity Duelists, your reputation exceeds you. Therefore, I must ask you to assist me in fighting a group of enemy duelists who are connected to the Sol Technologies cover-up.”

“And if I refuse?” Cal asked.

“I am telling you this because I know you will not refuse,” Striker revealed. “You will give your own life to help your brother regain his smile. Therefore, I would like you to meet me in Link V.R.A.I.N.S. this evening, along with two other Celebrity Duelists I have already spoken to. But you cannot come alone. I am already aware of your faceless associate. Bring him with you.”

“You sure?” Cal asked. “He’s not exactly a good duelist.”

“Trust me,” Striker insisted. “I have heard about his potential to be just as good as you. If we wish to uncover the truth behind the cover-up, we need all the help we can get.”

Cal thought about it for a few seconds. “Alright,” he decided. “I’m in.”

“Excellent decision,” Striker replied. “I am sending you the coordinates right now. See you this evening, Mr. Vagabond.”

Almost a minute later, a new window popped up on one of the computer screens. Sure enough, it listed the exact coordinates of where Striker wishes to meet up with Cal in Link V.R.A.I.N.S., and without hesitation, his fingers typed on the digital keyboard and downloaded it onto his Duel Disk so that when he logs in, he’ll be in the vicinity of their desired location. Once the download was complete, he unplugged the Duel Disk from the USB cord and attached it on his left wrist. But first, he had to call his associate. So he picked up his phone and dialed a familiar number.

A few seconds later, a familiar voice answered. “Cal? What is it?”

“Hey Yuan, I need you to come here after school,” Cal explained. “It’s about Striker. He contacted me personally.”

“…You’re kidding,” Yuan said after a few seconds of silence.

“It’s not a joke,” Cal replied. “But that’s not all. He wants to see you too. Dunno why, though. You don’t go to Link V.R.A.I.N.S. that often.”

He was right; Yuan isn’t the kind of person who usually goes to Link V.R.A.I.N.S. on a daily basis. But even with his low activity there, it was peculiar that Striker would want to see him, but not as peculiar as Striker knowing who Yuan was in the first place. The latter may be a fan of him, but he doesn’t know him personally, so why bother wanting to see him along with Cal? It doesn’t make sense.

“How could he know about me?” Yuan wondered. “My avatar is still in default mode and I only go there on the rare occasions to help you out with saving Jin.”

“That must be why Striker knows about you,” Cal guessed. “Remember when I asked for your help the other day, when I was cornered by these duelists in white robes?”

Realization struck Yuan. “Striker is a skilled hacker,” he said. “He probably uncovered archive footage from Link V.R.A.I.N.S.. That’s how he found out about me.”

“You think so?” Cal asked. “Cuz if that’s the case, it makes Striker suspicious.”

“Then I better come with you,” Yuan decided. “Plus this might be our only chance to see Striker in action. And…” His voice trailed off.

“What is it?” Cal asked.

“I…think we need some added muscle just in case,” Yuan continued. “I know someone who could provide that muscle.”

Cal quickly realized what that meant. “I know what you’re thinking and it’s a bad idea,” he warned. “I can’t risk letting an innocent duelist get hurt.”

“Trust me on this one,” Yuan insisted. “I know what his deck is like. He’ll provide just the strength we need.”

Cal was still hesitant on this decision to include him in the mix, but Yuan explained that whenever the two duel in Link V.R.A.I.N.S., their decks balance each other out when it comes to Tag Teams. While the Weather Painters are more oriented in skills, the second deck is composed of Beast-Type monsters that focus on strength, especially with the Link ace monster having a matching ability as the other monsters. Cal won’t lie; Yuan did bring up a really good point. Even so, will that be worth it in bringing some extra firepower? Or was it just another risk of some bystander getting harmed? Cal thought about it for a short time before he finally made a decision.

“Alright,” Cal decided. “Invite him over, but make sure he doesn’t tell anyone about my true identity.”

“Thanks,” Yuan replied. “We’ll come over after Duel Club.” And with that, he hung up his phone. “Naoki, can you come with me to Café Nom after club?”

“Hmm?” Naoki muttered. “That hot dog truck in town? Why?”

“I’ll explain more afterwards,” Yuan answered. “Just trust me on-”

“What are you two talking about?”

The sound of a familiar voice caught the boys off guard, especially Yuan. They both turned their heads to see Hannah, who had curiously walked in on their conversation. “Oh, uh…” Yuan muttered. “Just…stopping by a friend’s place afterwards.”

“What friend?” Hannah asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

“Um… Well…” Yuan stammered, but he lost his train of thought.

Some of you may be wondering why he suddenly forgot what he was about to say. The answer is obvious: he was getting distracted by who was standing in front of him. Her ginger hair pushed back by her headband and flowing wavily from the back of head with her light orange side tails reaching past her cheeks, her amethyst irises glistening from the sun’s rays beaming through a window and reflecting off her eyes, and her smooth fair skin. Not to mention her overall sweet, kind-hearted personality, as demonstrated from his arrival at the Duel Club to her defending him during his duel. Yuan was close to becoming quiet, his own cheeks becoming flushed with a pink hue. She wasn’t doing much to make him act so flustered…other than the fact how cute she was, something he managed to catch on.

“Are you feeling alright?” Hannah asked, sounding concerned.

“…You’re cute,” Yuan blurred out. He quickly covered his mouth as his face turned crimson.

“Oh!” Hannah said, blushing as well. “Thanks…I guess.”

Before things could get any awkward, Naoki took the awkward silence as his cue to step in. “Sorry about my friend,” he apologized. “He’s not very social like me.”

“That’s okay,” Hannah replied as she smiled. “It’s still nice to have another club member. I hope you enjoy your time here, Yuan.”

“Oh… Thanks…” Yuan muttered, still blushing.

Some time later, the sun was setting over the horizon as the evening hours approached, signaling the end of the club activities for the day. All over the school campus, students were either putting away the clubs’ respective items—whether it’s the equipment for sports, the various art supplies for arts and craft, or the instruments for music—reorganizing the desks back to their original positions, which was the case for the Duel Club. Despite the unexpected outcome of Yuan and June’s duel, a few more duels were initiated to give the members some practice on their current deck strategies. But with the club coming to an end, just about everyone had finished packing up and already left the club room. Well…everyone except Yuan and Naoki.

“Alright, so we’re supposed to head to Café Nom for some reason,” Naoki recalled. “Why’s that?”

Yuan quickly looked around the club room before locking the door, not wanting anyone to eavesdrop. “What I’m about to tell you is top secret,” he said. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

“Tell anyone about what?” Naoki asked.

“I’m serious!” Yuan insisted. “This is classified information!”

“Okay, geez, I won’t tell anyone,” Naoki said, raising his hands defensively. “So what’s this secret.”

Yuan slowly walked closer to Naoki and took a deep breath. “I know who the Vagabond is,” he revealed.

Naoki was in stunned silence for a few seconds before snorting a laugh. “You’re bluffing,” he finally said. “No one knows who the Vagabond is. His profile’s so secretive that he even hides his avatar’s face from everyone on the net. How could you know who he is?”

“He’s a close family friend,” Yuan explained. “He’s kind of like an uncle to me. And during today’s club meeting, he wanted me to help him out with a very specific mission. Luckily I was able to convince him to let you tag along.” He held out his hand for a handshake. “So how about it? Is the Brave Battler ready to step up and help me out?”

Naturally, Naoki held his hand and returned the offering handshake while stating he is always ready to help his best friend out. With the decision fully made, the duo departed the building where the Duel Club was and left the school grounds, making their way to Den City’s downtown area. It happens to be a common site for citizens to gather and watch any duels or special events taking place in Link V.R.A.I.N.S. thanks to the sixteen gigantic monitor screens of various aspect ratios. Parked in front of those skyscrapers with the screens is Café Nom, a truck serving mainly hotdogs and coffee to its customers.

Inside Café Nom, a fair-skinned man with dark purple hair and goatee was grilling a couple hotdogs, his gray eyes staring down as he used a pair of tongs to cook them evenly. His usual attire was casual as it was comprised of a dark violet hoodie, denim jeans, and burgundy boots; he usually wears a brown trenchcoat over his clothes, but he has it resting on a chair and is currently wearing a white apron while preparing the hotdogs. In the midst of cooking, his eyes glanced up and quickly noticed Yuan and Naoki heading towards the truck to see him.

“Hey Yuan!” the man called out. “About time you got here! I was starting to worry you bailed on me!”

“Relax, I didn’t,” Yuan reassured once he and Naoki got closer to the truck. “And I brought my friend along like I said.”

Naoki looked around. “So where’s the Vagabond?” he asked. “Is he meeting us here?”

“Um, Naoki…” Yuan said. He gestured at the man and started whispering. “This is Cal Kolter. He’s the Vagabond.”

Naoki’s eyes shot wide open the instant Yuan finished talking. On top of that, he took a step back, left in shock and awe from the revelation to the point where his voice had enough strength to produce a yelling “WHAAAT?!” He turned his head to face Cal and back at Yuan a few times, his mouth still left agape as he hadn’t fully recovered from the reaction to what he just heard.

“Shhhh!” Yuan quickly hushed.

“Sorry…” Naoki apologized.

“I get you’re excited, but we’ll talk more inside,” Cal suggested. “Gotta keep a low profile from unwanted fans.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Yuan agreed.

With Yuan leading the way, he and Naoki headed to a pair of doors located on the back of Café Nom. He opened them and the duo hopped into the truck, shutting the doors behind them. He then went over to the attendance window to disconnect the hatch and close it, leading to the sign to automatically retract. Now they would have some privacy to talk to Cal regarding their upcoming mission.

“Alright, here’s the deal,” Cal explained. “As Yuan already knows, Striker contacted me about a special mission in Link V.R.A.I.N.S.-”

“Whoa, hold there!” Naoki interrupted as he raised his hands defensively. “As in that new Celebrity Duelist goin’ around the net?”

“Yeah, that Striker,” Cal answered. “He said he’s got some info about something that happened ten years ago. Something that happened to my brother.”

“Who?” Naoki wondered.

Yuan, on the other hand, knew who his friend was talking about. “He knows about Jin?” he realized.

“That’s just one of the names he pulled up,” Cal continued. “Striker said there were four other victims, but I never got around to learning about their names. And for some reason, he also asked for Yuan to come along.”

“But that’s why I wanted to bring you here, Naoki,” Yuan added. He lifted up his Duel Disk. “My Weather Painters aren’t strong, but your baboon monsters are.”

“Oh, I get it,” Naoki realized. He grinned. “No problem. The Brave Battler’s got your back!”

“You sure you’re up for it?” Cal asked Naoki. “We might end up dueling some pretty strong opponents.”

“Pfft, piece of cake!” Naoki bragged. “Besides, this could be my chance to duel alongside my best bud!”

“Okay,” Cal said. He strapped on a purple Duel Disk that looked similar to Yuan’s. “I’m sending you both the coordinates Striker gave me. Once we’re in Link V.R.A.I.N.S., we should arrive at the same spot.” He walked over to a pair of doors. “C'mon bud, let’s get going.”

“Huh?” Naoki muttered. “What’re those things?”

“Special login rooms,” Yuan explained. “Cal and I need them to log in because our Duel Disks are older models.”

“Oh, okay,” Naoki replied. “I guess…”

It’s honestly weird that Cal and Yuan still use the older Duel Disk models and the login rooms, mostly because Sol Technologies have been improving and updating their Duel Disks to the newer models. Heck, almost everyone owns one, even Naoki, so they could log in without having to use those rooms; not only does it save a bit of time, but also a bit of space, depending on where they were constructed in the vehicle or building.

Regardless of whatever method they use, Naoki and Yuan’s Duel Disks had retrieved the designated coordinates, with text appearing that read “COORDINATES RECEIVED” on the older version and an A.I. implanted in the newer build confirming what was sent to Naoki. With everyone ready, the doors shut in front of Cal and Yuan to prepare them for the login sequence. They pulled out their respective desks and inserted them in Disk Zones, followed by the words “INTO THE V.R.A.I.N.S.” appearing on the sides where the blades are projected from. Outside the login rooms, Naoki stood in front of the six-screen computer as he simply raised his left arm with his Duel Disk on his wrist and shouted four words, along with Cal and Yuan.

“Link into the V.R.A.I.N.S.!”

While Naoki was instantly transported into the network, the loading time for Cal and Yuan took longer. While inside their login rooms, blue digital orbs surrounded them as their minds were transported into the network. For Cal, his outfit was transformed within a few flashes of light so he wore a black turtle neck, teal pants, red buckled boots, and a dark red coat with a matching cap and a brown belt used to store his deck. As for Yuan, since he never really came up with a proper avatar design, his outfit remained unchanged as his body transformed into the default Link V.R.A.I.N.S. avatar design, which was a white and black faceless robot build.

With their avatars fully loaded, Cal and Yuan caught up with Naoki through the network to log in. Sky blue, holographic pixels materialized at the location Striker informed to meet up, going from the head downward and cloaking them in the same pattern. Once those pixels reached their feet, they dispersed to reveal who they are in Link V.R.A.I.N.S.: the Vagabond and…well, Yuan doesn’t have a name for his avatar since it’s in default mode, so for now, his name is essentially the same as it is in the real world. Next to them stood Naoki, who goes under the alias Brave Battler; his attire was composed of a tealish-blue, black, and white robotic suit with yellow decals, having a matching mask with a green lens on his head—his green hair had become longer, pointer, and more magenta while his olive green eyes were now blue—and a logo on his chest comprised of a pink “B” on a white hexagonal-like polygon, which was surrounded by a yellow border.

“That’s your avatar?” Cal asked, not impressed. “Looks a little…” He tilted his hand to the side. “…flashy.”

“Hey, don’t underestimate how I look!” Naoki defended. “I wanted to look flash for when I finally appear on camera!”

Yuan remained silent as he crossed his arms. “You okay, Yuan?” Naoki asked. “You’re not sayin’ anything.”

Suddenly, a digital screen materialized in front of Yuan, who proceeded to type something into his Duel Disk. As he did that, words appeared on the screen.

**YOU HAVE TO EXCUSE MY SILENCE. I CHOSE TO REMAIN MUTE IN THE NETWORK SINCE MY VOICE CAN BE EASILY RECOGNIZABLE. IT’S TO MAINTAIN A LOW PROFILE FOR CAL SO NO ONE WILL RECOGNIZE ME AS HIS ALLY.**

“Whoa… That’s a cool way of talking,” Naoki complimented.

**THANK YOU, MY TRUSTED FRIEND. NOW WE MUST STAY ON GUARD. WE DON’T KNOW HOW MANY DUELISTS STRIKER CONTACTED, OR WHO HE CONTACTED. FOR ALL WE KNOW, WE HAVE UNKNOWINGLY TEAMED UP WITH-**

“So you’re the infamous Vagabond! ‘Bout time you and your buddies got here!”

Yuan, Brave Battler, and the Vagabond all rotated their heads to where the voice was coming from and saw a 19-year-old man walking to where they were. He had tan skin, light blue eyes, a brown chin beard, and a two-toned flattop haircut: blonde with red highlights on top of his head and brown from the forehead down. A greenish-gray jacket is worn over his built body frame and his neck had a separate collar of the same color and a golden animal necklace. His pants were also greenish-gray, but there was a large patch of denim on the front and a belt was shown supporting it, with the strap having the same color as his jacket and gold studs and the gold buckle containing a magenta “G.” He wore dark gray boots with a bronze stripe on the front of each boot and golden plates buckled on the toe areas. More gold plates can also be seen on his abdomen and forearms, which extended over his greenish-gray, fingerless gloves, and a gold ring gripped onto his upper left arm. With an appearance like that, it was clear who he was: The Gore, a famous Celebrity Duelist in Link V.R.A.I.N.S..

“Lemme guess… Striker called you here too,” the Vagabond assumed.

“'Course he did,” The Gore confirmed. “Said he’s got some important info 'bout somethin’ bad that took place years ago. Dunno what for, but it must be important if he’s askin’ for my help.” He noticed Brave Battler and Yuan. “So what’s with the backup?”

**IF YOU MUST KNOW, STRIKER ASKED FOR ME TO COME WITH THE VAGABOND. BUT BECAUSE MY DUELING SKILLS ARE NOT AS GOOD AS HIS, I ASKED FOR MY TRUSTED FRIEND, WHO GOES BY THE ALIAS BRAVE BATTLER, TO ACCOMPANY ME.**

Brave Battler grinned in response. “That’s right!” he confirmed. “We’ve known each other since preschool!”

Yuan’s hand twitched, indicating slight embarrassment. Luckily the Vagabond stepped in. “So who else did Striker contact?” he asked The Gore. “He said he already talked to two other Celebrity Duelists before he reached me.”

“Dunno,” The Gore admitted with a shrug. “But from what I heard it could be-”

Before he could finish, a small group of stars began to shimmer in the air, something the group quickly noticed. The stars then descended towards the ground, leaving behind the same sky blue pixels as they formed into someone else and unveiled who it was. In front of the four stood a fair-skinned teenager who looked a few years younger than The Gore and looked reminiscent to a magical girl. Her long, blue hair with light blue highlights were tied into pigtails with dark blue ribbons and formed hearts at where they were tied in place. On her face, periwinkle irises glistened from her eyes, and on her right cheek, one would notice a light green clover tattooed on it. Her uniform stayed true to the magical girl trope: dangling earrings shaped like winged pink hearts, dark blue choker, white, sleeveless shirt with pink trims, a blue tie, and stopped just below her breasts, a dress with light blue fabric on the upper half, blue on the lower half, pink trimmings with one shaped like a heart on the front, and wing-shaped frills, dark blue stockings with light blue frills, blue, light blue, and pink boots with winged purple clovers, and dark blue upper arm rings with small wings. Two giant wings adorned each adorned with a pink heart and a purple clover completed the outfit. Turns out The Gore wasn’t the only Celebrity Duelist present because he, Brave Battler, Yuan, and the Vagabond were joined with the one and only Blue Angel.

“Wow…” Brave Battler said, completely in awe. “We’re actually working alongside Blue Angel?! This is incredible!”

Yuan, on the other hand, didn’t type in a response. Instead, he slowly walked over to Blue Angel, his gaze fixated on her. “What’s goin’ on with ya?” Brave Battler asked, sounding concerned.

The Vagabond, on the other hand, knew exactly what was going on, since he groaned and rubbed his brow. “Not again…” he muttered.

At that point, Yuan was right next to Blue Angel, who was a bit annoyed with the close distance. “Can I help you?” she asked with her arms crossed.

Yuan typed something into his Duel Disk before placing his arm on Blue Angel’s shoulder. At that moment, a single word appeared on his screen.

**HEY.**

Blue Angel simply remained standing near Yuan, her widened eyes staring at him, her right eyebrow furrowing downward, and her left eyebrow raised upward. Brave Battler and The Gore had similar reactions as they also faced Yuan, wondering what that was for. The Vagabond knew _exactly_ what his partner was doing and all he could do was place his hand on his face out of pure embarrassment. Now is not time, he thought to himself.

“Okay, that’s enough,” the Vagabond said as he stepped in, pushing Yuan away from Blue Angel. “I take it Striker called you out here too.”

“Well like your little armor friend said, that’s true,” Blue Angel confirmed. “Striker told me his research reveals what happened to one of my childhood friends. If he knows what happened to her, it’s bound to be important.” She glanced at her Duel Disk and sighed. “But where is he?”  
  
“Good. Everyone is finally present.”


	4. The Lost Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Striker reveals his true plan to his guests.

The group—save Blue Angel and the Vagabond—all pondered on where the voice suddenly came from until Brave Battler pointed something out. Not too far off in the distance, a strange black silhouette was seen on the rooftop of a skyscraper. Everyone all paid their attention to where it was, only for it to vanish a few seconds later; shortly thereafter, it appeared on another rooftop, and another, and a few more. Whoever was underneath this mysterious shadow was swiftly getting closer and closer until it reappeared on top of the building where they all were, effortlessly landing in front of them after accomplishing its final jump. Getting up from its left knee, the figure began to speak, its black, featureless face never leaving its focus on the five.

“Greetings,” the figure said, speaking in a heavily-filtered voice. “I am pleased to see all of you have arrived.”

“You Striker?” The Gore asked.

“That is entirely correct,” the figure confirmed. “I am, in fact, the genius hacker known as Striker. And I know who each of you are. George Gore, also known as The Gore, a Celebrity Duelist with an open identity and a signature dueling style similar to that of a professional wrestler. Blue Angel, a Celebrity Duelist with an idol career and cards that possess a similar bright outlook. And finally, the Vagabond, a lesser-known Celebrity Duelist who is also a skilled coder. I can also see the Vagabond has brought his associate along like I requested, but who is the other one?”

“I’m the Brave Battler!” the armor-wearing duelist cheerfully answered.

“Right…” Striker said. “Anyway, I am sure all of you remember the reasons why I asked for each of your assistance, so there is no need to recap what we already know for the sake of keeping identities a secret. Therefore, I will get to the bottom of things: ten years ago, a man named Kiyoshi Kogami abducted five children for the sole purpose of experimenting on them to create artificial intelligence. These children were trapped in enclosed areas for six months and forced to duel, with the penalties of starvation and electrocution if they loss. The data that was gathered from their duels was used to create the artificial intelligence I mentioned earlier, five beings known as Ignises. The experiment could have gone on for even longer if an emergency call from an unknown source did not contact help. And as some of you are aware of, the victims had not entirely recover.”

“You’re saying AIs were created from these victims?” the Vagabond questioned. “Where are they?”

“I found the answer to your question from file data that took place five years ago,” Striker answered, a screen appearing in front of him. “See for yourself.”

Everyone gathered in front of the projected screen to see what had happened to these AIs. Deep inside the recesses of the digital realm, they lived their lives upon their creation in a world hidden away from humanity. This was called the Cyberse World and it was the birthplace of a unique type of monster known as Cyberse monsters. As the years passed, their duties were divided up to maintain their own territories as a way to preserve their homeworlds; these territories were based on five of the known Attributes, something that represented each of the Ignises: volcano for Fire, ocean for Water, valleys for Wind, mountains for Earth, and desert plains for Light. Each territory resided in a biome outside a outer layer shaped like a pentagon with a city on each point. Grasslands connected those cities and outlined what used to be a larger city, which was now deep in a pentagonal hole and five metal pillars hovered above the cities with glowing, yellow spheres, tethered to a withered pillar. It truly looked like a peaceful world to be in, but like Striker said, it all changed five years ago.

The footage transitioned to what they wanted to show to the group. The once beautiful Cyberse World had fallen into anarchy; lightning cracked across the pitch dark sky, illuminating the dark green clouds, and flooding lava proceeded to melt the pillar, which was surrounded by an orange, yellow, and green ring. Within the carnage stood a tan-skinned young man who had crimson hair with red highlights, eyes with yellow sclera and no irises or pupils, and a complex red, white, and green outfit along with a mask with a white casing, four white circles dotted with red circles linked in a diamond shape, a smaller white dot on the center of his forehead that was surrounded by said diamond. Whatever caused Cyberse World to fall into a state of chaos, it blatantly wasn’t due to a rebellion.

The man declared, “The Cyberse will be no more! Cracking Dragon, destroy this world!”

Evident movement was shown splashing from the lava and it swirled around to reveal itself as Cracking Dragon. With a loud roar, it breathed out its fiery attack to lay waste on Cyberse World. High above the pillar, a massive, red seal with five white circles hovered, facing towards the imminent destruction.

A male voice questioned, “How did the Knights of Hanoi find us?” One of the seal’s white circles revealed a yellow entity struggling to break free, but all he could do was make enough wiggle room to get a better view of the ensuing rampage. “He’s gonna wipe us out. We gotta do something!”

Another being slid out from another part of the seal, having an appearance far different than the yellow AI. The bulky, orange humanoid simply responded, “Do what? He’s got us trapped.”

The third voice came from a blue, feminine-looking humanoid. “I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do,” she admitted. “It looks like our time has come to an end.”

“What?!” a fourth voice coming from a green humanoid. “You can’t be serious!”

The fifth and final figure, a red humanoid, had something to say. “Wait!” he called out. “I think there’s a way for us to escape! We can-”

Before the red Ignis could finish his sentence, the footage abruptly transitioned to static, catching everyone but Striker off guard. They should have expected something like that to happen yet seeing them helplessly restrained by this seal as their world got torn apart by Cracking Dragon… It honestly made them feel sorry for the five. Whoever these Knights of Hanoi were, it was clear they more than likely accomplished their goal of wiping them away from existence.

“I was unable to find more footage of the Ignis, so there were most likely wiped out by this powerful dragon,” Striker continued. “But that is not all. Blue Angel, Mr. Vagabond… You both know someone who was included among the listed victims. Did any of them suffer an illness?”

Blue Angel nodded in response. “My friend has been in a coma for five years,” she revealed. “So far there hasn’t been any progress to her recovery.”

“Heart attack,” the Vagabond bluntly said. “He’s fine, but his health started decreasing afterwards.”

“What, you sayin’ there’s some kinda mind link between these Ignis and the human hosts?” The Gore guessed.

“That is correct,” Striker confirmed. “Now that the backstory has been cleared up, it is time to reveal what has been going on in the present day. As you all know, I have developed a reputation among the network exposing Sol Technologies for covering up this incident. There is actually more to that. In truth, the organization that was mentioned in the video, the Knights of Hanoi, is once again at large. So far I have been able to locate their recent activity in the network. That is why I asked for the assistance of some of the best Celebrity Duelists. While each of your decks are different, my research indicates they are the strongest decks in the entire network system. And given the number of knights I have detected in this area, it seems it was wise of the Vagabond’s associate to bring another duelist along.”

“No problem,” Brave Battler replied. “So who are we facing?”

Striker pulled up a digital map. “Right now we are next to a group of warehouses,” he explained. “Each warehouse includes at least six knights. If any one of us enters, there is no doubt they will swarm in for an attack. But luckily, I have an idea. Will all of you please present your Duel Disks to me?”

All five Duelists moved their left arms forward to showcase their Duel Disks to Striker; although Yuan and the Vagabond are the only ones utilizing the older models, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. They clicked on a few buttons on their Duel Disk, leading to all the latter five to briefly flash varying colors based on their Disks’ palettes.

“I am sending each of you special software that allows you to take on multiple opponents without restricting you to the turn-base duel system,” Striker said. “You have no need to initiate a duel. Just place any monster card of choice onto your Duel Disk and it will obey your commands. Once your opponent’s monster is defeated in combat, you are automatically declared the winner. However, this applies to yourselves as well, so choose your monsters wisely.”

**I’M IMPRESSED. HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO COME UP WITH SUCH AN ADVANCE PROGRAM?**

“I have a special associate assisting me, whom shall remain anonymous for now,” Striker answered. “Now let us come up with a plan. Since there are numerous warehouses to investigate, it would be wise to split up into three groups. Mr. Vagabond, I am sure you feel more comfortable with your associate and his friend.”

“Yeah, I am,” the Vagabond confirmed. “I know my bud’s deck like the back of my own hand.”

“In that case, Blue Angel, you will accompany me,” Striker continued. “Mr. Gore, I am certain you do not need any assistance for this mission. Will you be alright on your own?”

“No sweat,” The Gore replied with a grin. “The Gore’s gotcha covered!”

“Excellent,” Striker said. “We will meet back here once all of the present Knights of Hanoi are taken care of. I wish each of you luck for this mission.”

That said, the six duelists all diverged to the warehouses to take on the Knights of Hanoi. Striker initiated their rapid jumps across the buildings and Blue Angel materialized a blue energy whip to grapple and swing across flag poles to catch up with her partner. The Gore, the Vagabond, Brave Battler, and Yuan all ran towards the farthest edge of the roof to gain speed to jump off, and right at that moment, four Duel Boards came flying to their location. As if it was timed perfectly, they all landed on their respective Duel Boards and flew off to the direction Striker and Blue Angel were heading; The Gore split away from the other three while still remaining on the same general path, eagerly waiting for the right opportunity to take on some of the Knights.

Several miles later, they all arrived at the warehouses at separate spots of the area: Striker and Blue Angel in the west, The Gore in the East, and Yuan, Brave Battler, and the Vagabond not far from the center. There are indeed numerous warehouses, but with each of them harboring six or more Knights each, they should all be able to converge right into the central warehouse.

With the Vagabond’s group, they were immediately surrounded. With the Knights armed with their various monsters, the three took immediate action with their own decks, summoning their signature aces for combat.

“Pound ‘em, Green Baboon!” Brave Battler called out as he raised the card above his head.

“Alright, Codebreaker Virus Berserker,” the Vagabond said. “Code these Knights’ dragons!”

**PRESENTING WEATHER PAINTER AURORA.**

Three hexagons expanded outwards from thin air and blue pixels slid from right to left, leaving behind their ace monsters in coatings of the same color, which instantly dispersed to reveal them in their proper color palettes. One of these three monsters was Green Baboon, Defender of the Great Forest, a Level 7 DARK Beast-Type monster with 2600 ATK and 1800 DEF. If it was in the Graveyard or in Brave Battler’s hand when a face-up Beast-Type monster he controls is destroyed, he can pay 1000 Life Points to special summon it. Given the program Striker sent and installed, this effect won’t be used in combat, so Green Baboon was restricted to a Normal Monster. Another thing to point out is Brave Battler and Yuan aren’t using Link Monsters, but the Vagabond is.

His ace monster is Codebreaker Virus Berserker, a Link 3 DARK Warrior-Type Link Monster with 2800 ATK and the Link Arrows pointing up, down, and right. It requires at least two monsters—including a Codebreaker Link monster—in order for it to be Link Summoned. When it’s special summoned and co-linked, up to two Level 4 or lower Codebreakers can be special summoned in defense position from the Vagabond’s hand or Graveyard to his opponent’s zone, depending on where a Link Monster points to. During the Main Phase, face-up Spells and Traps can be destroyed up to the number of Codebreakers he controls, resulting in 600 damage to the opponent for each destroyed card. During the End Phase, when Virus Berserker has been destroyed by an opponent’s card effect and sent to the Graveyard, it can be special summoned, but it must be banished upon leaving the field; this can be done once per turn.

Out of all the effects Virus Berserker can use under the program’s system, it looks like the first effect seems to be the most plausible. The third effect was rendered useless because if Virus Berserker gets destroyed, it grants the Knights he facing an automatic victory; furthermore, based on what Striker stated earlier regarding automatic victories, it doesn’t seem like the Life Point system is required, so that leaves the second effect out of the equation. It also appears that this programming also affects Yuan’s Weather Painter Aurora as she cannot perform her once-per-turn effect due to turns getting negated, but her other effects regarding her The Weather Spells and Traps could still be put into use. Striker wasn’t kidding when they told everyone to choose their monsters wisely; the non-turn duel programs are capable of nullifying certain effects to make them generally less powerful, which is why strength better come in numbers, especially considering what Yuan and Brave Battler can do when working together.

“Stand your guard!” a Knight ordered. “They’re using a special code!” He readied his Duel Disk. “Summon Cracking Dragon to take out the intruders!”

As the other Knights summoned one Cracking Dragon after another, Brave Battler and Yuan stood back-to-back. “You ready for this?” Brave Battler asked.

**READY AS I’LL EVER BE.**

Brave Battler grinned. “Then let’s do this!” he cheered.

“I’ll kick things off with Virus Berserker’s special ability to bring in some back out,” the Vagabond decided. “Here comes the Zero Day support team!”

Two copies of Codebreaker Zero Day emerged onto the field; due to Virus’ Berserker’s ability, one copy was special summoned onto the Main Monster Zone that was being pointed at by the upper Link Arrow. The other was normal summoned onto his side of the field and linked with the lower Link Arrow. Both Zero Days are Level 4 DARK Warrior-Type monsters with 1800 ATK and 0 DEF. Whenever Link monsters are linked with Zero Day, except Codebreakers, their effects that add or subtract ATK or DEF are reversed, but multiplications, divisions, halving, and doubling remain unchanged. If a Codebreaker Link Monster like Virus Berserker gets destroyed by battle or a card effect, this card gets destroyed as well. In other words, the monster was like a living virus for the opponents.

“Do you really think that will stop us?” a Knight asked. “Using Cracking Dragon’s ability, your Codebreaker Zero Days lose attack equal to their level-”

“No they won’t,” the Vagabond interrupted.

“What makes you say that?” the same Knight questioned.

“Cuz of this,” the Vagabond answered with a confident grin. “Go get 'em, Zero Days!”

All of a sudden, another copy of Zero Day surfaced on a different Main Monster Zone that was directly in front of one of the Knights. Another repeated the same process. Followed by another, and another, and another. With every appearing Zero Day, the Knights kept losing more of their guard but also gained more confusion and frustration, which was understandable. Virus Berserker’s effect—upon getting special summoned and co-linked—targets a Link Monster and special summons up to two Zero Days to any zone the target’s Link Arrows point to. The only problem is all the Cracking Dragons are not Link monsters, so the Vagabond is either breaking the rules or…

The smirk remained glued to his face with every special summoned Zero Day and the Knights kept demanding for an explanation. The answer was simple: he was indeed following the rules as Virus Berserker was the only Link Monster on the field he could target; it never specifically mentioned it had to be an opponent’s Link monster. Of course, even though it clarified any bafflement, that wasn’t the complete answer. It all lies in his skills as a hacker. The programs Striker gave to their allies negates turn-based duels and restricts certain effects a monster has, but it does maintain the layout of a traditional Master Duel. He made some slight tweaks to this so that the program could read it as a multitude of simultaneous duels taking place; right now, it is reading that each Knight has a Virus Berserker on the opposite side of their respective field even though there is clearly one instead of at least six. On top of that, he found a way to summon as many copies of a monster as he wants to, all at the same time of each “duel” it reads, thanks to his hacking methods.

With a lengthy and elaborate response like that, the Knights basically had no response. They all stood stock still, left in shock at how the likes of someone like the Vagabond could pull that off. It explains why most of the Zero Days were special summoned despite not being on the zone Virus Berserker’s Link Arrows were pointing to, and with advanced hacking skills like that, they are not sure if they could counteract it. As for the Vagabond, he was proud of his achievement and couldn’t help but casually comment if it was also possible to pull off a feat like this in Speed Duels. Even Yuan was impressed with the strategy, even though his face didn’t show it.

**I’M IMPRESSED, VAGABOND. THAT’S A CLEVER WAY TO MAKE THINGS MORE FAIR FOR US.**

“Don’t sweat it,” the Vagabond replied. “You and I both know I got a very specific collection of books. I used them to formulate my strategy.”

“What books?” Brave Battler wondered.

**I’LL EXPLAIN LATER. FOR NOW, LET’S STOP THESE KNIGHTS. INITIATING ATTACK FORMATION.**

When you consider the ATK of all the monsters present on the battlefield, all the Cracking Dragons were the strongest since each of them had 3000 ATK, so this was going to be a close call. Fortunately for the trio, they may have an edge by using the right Spells and Traps to strengthen their monsters; even if the program nullifies certain effects, the right ones may be one of their biggest advantages. Plus, with the adjustments the Vagabond made, they may be able to defeat all the Knights at once.

As they select what Spells or Traps to use to ensue their battle, a low humming noise was heard inside one of the warehouses, which was coming from a peculiar machine. It is difficult to distinguish what the machine even is ot what its purpose is, but it does come with a few active computers not too far away, with all the screens illuminating through the darkness. Every screen monitored the western, central, and eastern sections of the warehouses housing the Knights of Hanoi and their duels. As they faced off against Striker and their allies, the live footage is transmitted into the machine, where it scans through a databank to find a Duel Monster’s statistics and registers it. Everything seemed to be going normal until the humming gradually increased; it wasn’t up to a dangerous level, but it was starting to become clear it might be malfunctioning. According to the machine, it had recorded an abnormally large amount of DARK monsters, causing it to potentially go haywire.

**I’LL START THINGS OFF WITH THE CONTINUOUS SPELL WEATHER CLOUDY CANVAS. NOW I SHALL USE THE POWER OF THE SPELL CARD ANCIENT RULES TO BRING FORTH ANOTHER WEATHER PAINTER AURORA. AND BY USING WEATHER CLOUDY CANVAS, I WILL CUT MY AURORAS’ ATTACK IN HALF, BUT IT WILL ALLOW THEM TO ATTACK DIRECTLY.**

“Whoa! Gutsy move,” the Vagabond complimented. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

**NEVER MIND ME. I HAVE ALREADY CALCULATED A PERFECT STRATEGY.**

The Vagabond sighed as he tugged on the brim of his hat. “If you say so,” he said. “But be careful. As long as your monsters’ attacks are halved, you’re a bigger target.”

**TRUST ME. I KNOW.**

“Wait a sec!” Brave Battler interrupted. “All those Cracking Dragons have higher attack points! We can’t make a dent in them!”

“No problem,” the Vagabond spoke up. Then he started typing into his Duel Disk. “Lemme just even things out a bit.”

A few seconds later, one of the Zero Days emitted an ominous dark purple, dark red, and black aura. It was quickly followed by a second Zero Day and a third one; the pattern kept repeating until all Zero Days were cloaked in the tri-colored aura. It didn’t take long for it to spread and cloak the Cracking Dragons in the same coating, surprising the Knights even more. They couldn’t grasp what was going on this time, but the Vagabond knew exactly what he was doing, so he decided to explain to his, Brave Battler, and Yuan’s opponents once again on his method.

The key to the trio’s success lies within the special ability all the Cracking Dragons share. Whenever an opponent normal or special summons exactly one monster, with no other monsters summoned to the field, Cracking Dragon can make said monster lose ATK equal to its Level x 200, which is also inflicted as damage to the opponent. As for the Zero Days’ shared effect, they can reverse the addition or subtraction of non-Codebreaker Link monsters whenever they’re co-linked to each other; however, none of the Cracking Dragons are Link monsters, so the Vagabond made some slight adjustments so that their abilities affect all non-Codebreaker _monsters_ rather than just Link monsters. Now, whenever a Knight is forced to activate Cracking Dragon’s effect, all Zero Days—thanks to the alterations made on Striker’s program—will _gain_ ATK equal to their Level x 200 and have that ATK increase inflicted to the opponent as damage.

All the Knights of Hanoi listened to the Vagabond’s explanation, and the more he revealed what he had planned, the more silent they became. How could someone like him have the capability of turning this duel in his favor? One Knight called out his strategy, hints of fury in his tone, that what he has been strategizing thus far was considered cheating, but the Vagabond didn’t let him continue. While it may be considered cheating in a normal Duel, that is not the case in this one. He called each and every Knight out for having a flaw that ensured their downfall: following the rules. Why? Since Striker’s program ensues non-turn-based duels, they are not official duels, so they are free to bend the rules in their favor without facing any harsh penalties.

Right as he finished, he glanced at one of the Knights, who was looking rather confident as if he had an epiphany. This specific Knight had realized utilizing the Cracking Dragons’ effects will give all Zero Days an 800 ATK, since the latter are all Level 4, so having 2600 ATK wouldn’t mean nothing against 3000 ATK, especially if 800 damage points are being dealt as a result. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t faze the Vagabond one bit because he already knew that; Cracking Dragon can indeed deal piercing damage equal to the opposing monster’s ATK gain, but a situation like this is why he came prepared.

“Alright gang, time to take care of these Knights once and for all!” the Vagabond declared. “Pound these dragons to a pulp, Virus Berserker!”

**I WILL ATTACK WITH DOUBLE EMERALD PAINT SPLASH.**

“Go, Green Baboon!” Brave Battler ordered with a confident grin. “Tear 'em apart!”

Meanwhile, in the western corridor, Striker and Blue Angel have already entered a warehouse; however, unlike the others, this particular one did not show any signs of the Knights of Hanoi lingering in the vicinity. One would think it would be completely strange since the map Striker displayed earlier showed every single warehouse containing at least six Knights. Little do the others know, save Blue Angel, that this was all Striker’s intention.

“Alright, Ghost Gal,” Striker said as he went to work on one of the computers. “I am sending you the data Blue Angel and I have received. It contains blueprints detailing a machine the Knights’ leader is working on.”

“You sure you two are alone?” Ghost Gal checked. “What if someone comes in snooping?”

“I don’t think that would happen,” Blue Angel reassured. “The others are too busy fighting all the Knights for us.”

“And we do not have to worry about the intrusion of any of the four generals,” Striker added. “My stealth cameras indicated they are too busy with their plan to actually come over here. It naturally felt appropriate to sneak in and take out every low-level mook.”

There was a bit of silence before Ghost Gal finally spoke. “So that’s what Varis is up to,” she noted. “You sure it’s dangerous?”

“Remember what happened the last time it was activated?” Striker asked in response. “I detected an abnormal amount of Ritual energy in the area. Who knows how much damage the next activation will cause-”

“Wait a sec,” Blue Angel interrupted. She held up her Duel Disk. “Something’s going on in the center warehouse.”

“What is it?” Striker asked.

“Some kind of…dark energy build-up?” Blue Angel reported.

Striker didn’t respond. “What’s going on over there?” Ghost Gal asked. “Where’s this build-up coming from?”

“We will have to call you back,” Striker told Ghost Gal. “I fear we might attract some unwanted attention if this build-up continues.”

Right as their call ended, Striker and Blue Angel made a beeline towards the door they entered and bolted in the eastern direction. The two readied their Duel Disks in case any Knights showed up in their perimeter; of course, dealing with them would mean less time to deal with this dark energy build-up. Compared to the reading that detected Ritual energy, this one was significantly stronger and there was no telling what kind of damage it will cause if it was left unchecked. Worst of all, their allies have no clue about the danger they could possibly be in and it needed to be resolved as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, in the eastern section, The Gore was in the middle of taking down a number of Knights. A lot of them he has faced so far have all relied on some varying use of their Cracking Dragons, but they have all proved to be no match for his Gouki monsters. With this streak he has going on, he might be able to take care of his share of the warehouses with little to no problems at all… At least, that was what he hoped for.

“So who’s next to get squashed?” The Gore challenged as he pounded his fists together.

However, The Gore’s confident grin started to slip when he heard an unexpected laugh. “Who’s there?!” he demanded. “Show yourself!”

“Very well,” a nasally voice replied.

A figure stepped out of the shadows and paced himself into the light flashing above The Gore. He was revealed to be a fair-skinned man with grayish-blonde hair with a few thick strands slicked to his right and icy blue eyes. His choice of clothing was all white as it contained a suit with a “T” going from the collar to the center of his body, a couple buttons, and trimming of a matching black color, a jacket with yellow trimmings, pants with black trims, and shoes. He was indeed the same person who had a nasally voice and he is known as Spectre, the second-in-command of the Knights of Hanoi.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” Spectre said. “I am Spectre of the Knights of Hanoi.”

“So what’re you doin’ here?” The Gore asked.

“My dearest friend had informed me something unsettling is going on in Link V.R.A.I.N.S.,” Spectre answered. “So to spare him the trouble of logging in, I decided to take it upon myself to-” Then he started coughing. “Forgive me, I have been feeling terribly ill for a few years-” He was interrupted with another loud cough.

“Don’t think you can fake bein’ sick now,” The Gore said, readying his Duel Disk. “If you’re challengin’ me to a duel, bring it on!”

Spectre cleared his throat. “Very well,” he said. “That was my intention, anyway.”

Right as Spectre readied his own Duel Disk to initiate their duel, Blue Angel and Striker hurried down towards the center corridor. An small, notification alarm abruptly went off and the duo—who were too caught up in their running—stopped dead in their tracks because of how they were briefly startled. One glance at his Duel Disk from Striker assured them another batch of Knights have been vanquished. Blue Angel wondered who this defeated batch came from, with her ally replying he knew exactly who secured a win. He had received frequently short yet quiet pings and concluded they all came from The Gore, and seeing how he’s currently facing off against another opponent at the moment, it shouldn’t be a surprise as to who they would come across. The two made their way through the doors, confirming Striker’s answer regarding the victor of the duel that went down in this warehouse.

“Well done, Mr. Vagabond,” Striker said. “I knew you were right for this task.”

“All in a day’s work for the number one coder in Link V.R.A.I.N.S.,” the Vagabond bragged as he cracked his knuckles. “So what now?”

Blue Angel stepped forward and held up her Duel Disk. “There’s an unusual amount of dark energy in this warehouse,” she explained. “While it looks like you guys took care of the Knights of Hanoi, the energy level is still present. So did anyone use any DARK Attribute monsters?”

Brave Battler nervously raised his hand. “Guilty,” he admitted.

**I USED TWO WEATHER PAINTER AURORAS, BOTH OF WHICH HAVE DARK ATTRIBUTES.**

“The same goes for my Codebreakers,” the Vagabond added. “Is that bad?”

“Very much so,” Striker answered. “It appears the machine in this warehouse registered the presence of every DARK Attribute monster that was present in your duel. Now you must answer this question honestly: are any of your Duel Disks malfunctioning?”

“Nah,” the Vagabond answered.

“Nope,” Brave Battler replied after a quick glance.

Yuan checked his Duel Disk before typing out his response.

**THAT’S WEIRD. IT SEEMS MY DUEL DISK HAS DEACTIVATED, YET I’M STILL LOGGED IN. COULD YOU TAKE A LOOK AT IT?**

“Certainly,” Striker replied.

Striker walked over to where Yuan was standing and tilted his head down to check the latter’s Duel Disk. Strangely enough, the orb located at the center wasn’t lit up, a strong indicator that it wasn’t activated; Yuan typed down a statement to reaffirm that it was glowing last time he checked. It doesn’t make sense. A deactivated Duel Disk while logged into Link V.R.A.I.N.S.? Something wasn’t adding up. In the midst of the rising confusion, Striker developed an epiphany, and if he had an uncloaked face, his eyes would have been wide coupled with a slightly ajar mouth.

The Vagabond asked if he was okay, only for the former to question if anyone from the trio had seen a machine upon arriving in this warehouse. Unfortunately, a line of text from Yuan and two verbal responses from The Vagabond and Brave Battler confirmed the worst-case scenario for Striker: it was nowhere in sight. Brave Battler pondered about why this machine was important anyway, only for him to be met up with an elaborate explanation regarding the reading mentioned less than a minute ago. Since all three Duelists used DARK Attribute monsters, the sensors have been continuously updating on the dark energy and its most recent detections indicate it’s building up rapidly to dangerous levels. The more they stand here talking, the less time they have to act and prevent any incoming damage. They all have find wherever the machine is hidden before it’s too late.


End file.
